Federal employees in N.W.T. spared from allowance cut

A decision to eliminate the isolated post allowances of federal workers in the Yukon won't affect federal employees in the Northwest Territories.

The union that represents federal government workers says employees in N.W.T. won't suffer the same pay cut as their counterparts in the Yukon.

The federal announced this week that it plans to cut an allowance Yukon workers had been collecting to compensate them for the higher cost of living there. A federal official says the arrival of big-box stores such as Wal-Mart in Whitehorse has lowered the cost of living to the point where the allowance is no longer justified.

Though Yellowknife has a Wal-Mart and other big box stores, the cost-of-living allowance for the N.W.T remains unchanged.

The union estimates the change will cost each Yukon employee an average of $5,000 a year.

The Yukon government also says it has no plans to follow suit by reducing its annual bonus.

Yukon Government workers who have put in more than a year on the job receive what is called a "Yukon Bonus" worth about $2,200 a year.

However, acting public service commissioner Bob Chambers says the bonus is not linked in any way to the isolated post allowances paid to federal workers. He says as of now the territorial government has absolutely no plans to review the Yukon Bonus provisions.